If we observe closely, we can see and identify a slow, but steady growth of a new consciousness, a consciousness that transcends the egoistic bonds of self, family, tribe, community, city, state, nation, empire, religion, race, cultural background, or language. This new consciousness sees a future for humanity that respects each individual, each social or religious background, each tradition and which understands the need for diversity and difference for the very health of humanity in the long run. This new consciousness works to bring about mutual benefit rather than egoistic fulfillment at the expense of others, and takes care of the needs of planetary health as a basis for long-term human survival. Today's world is fixated on short-term material gain and seems careless of waste, imbalance or suffering; yet we see an ever-increasing number of people embracing the ideals set forth by Sri Aurobindo in The Ideal of Human Unity. When we look around us today, we see the kind of aggressive and harmful egoism at all levels that could bring us to a state of despair if we could not at the same time recognize that much of what we see today in the world is a reaction of the forces that dominated humanity's past to the pressure of change that is building throughout the world. And thus, we can see hope where we would otherwise be forced to despair. The future existence of the human race lies in embracing our highest and best potential, applying intelligence, compassion and goodwill to all our interactions with other beings that share this planet with us, and in our relationship to the environment. Sri Aurobindo has provided us a roadmap for this future. It is for us to choose to follow that roadmap and embrace the new consciousness that is bringing the hope of positive change into the world.
